Algodoo

Nice demo

I had to look at this a little while.
This is my interpretation (for marble race fans who might have a hard time understanding this scene):

There are 3 axes (@ 0, 60, and 120°):
1. Fill left container (0°).
2. Empty right container (60°).
3. Transfer water from left container to right container (120°).

There are two chart labels:
1. 0 to 5 for the left container water volume.
2. 0 to 3 for the right container water volume.

Kilinich,

Have you tried out any 3D physics engines or applications? If so, is there any one that you like?

s_noonan - In case you are unaware, Algoryx has a 3d simulation program called "Dynamics for SpaceClaim". There is a link to it on the Algodoo home page: www.algodoo.com/ but the link does not work for me. I don't know much at all about the program (price, quality, capabilities, etc) and so I cannot tell you anything about it. If you can access the link, then maybe you will find what you are looking for.

EDIT: I did a search on YouTube for "Dynamics for SpaceClaim" and found a few demo videos. Check them out!

I tried a trial version of SpaceClaim with Dynamics for SpaceClaim. It worked well, just like in the video, but costs about $7000. I was looking for something along the lines of a 3D Algodoo for a little less dough.

SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS?!!!!! (Xray's brain explodes)

$7000!!?

I'm going to go buy a motorcycle instead...

In Algoryx and SpaceClaim's defense, SpaceClaim is a very advanced and easy to use CAD package and I don't know of any other CAD packages that include a physics engine. To be able to create a design and simulate it's operation very accurately before actually making the product has the potential of saving big bucks.

Good point. I used to work for an industrial laser manufacturer that used a lot of GE/Fanuc CNC controllers for their 5-Axis laser welding machines. Those are top-of-the-line controllers but they had one major limitation. The CNC G-Codes had to be programmed manually which burned up a lot of man-hours, which of course was quite costly. The company invested about $30K in a software package that allowed the programmers to enter their designs directly from CAD, and the software would create all of the CNC codes that were required to program each job. The company got a huge return on their investment over a relatively short time period. Although $30K is a lot of money for the average person, it was an excellent investment for the company. So, $7K actually may be a bargain for Space Claim if it turns out to be a good investment for a company.

I bet spaceClaim is more targeted toward companies like Xray said. Usually what the guys I know do is just make something in Blender and then port it into some other 3d physics engine, like Unity or something. I don't do that myself, but it looks cool though.